Well, the New Democrats want to know exactly how much we paid for those ads. On Tueady, NDP MP Mathieu Ravignat filed an order paper question about that in Parliament:

"With regards to advertising by the Government of Canada during the broadcast of Super Bowl XLVII on February 3, 2013: (a) what was the total cost for advertising; and (b) what was the cost for each advertisement shown?"

While we wait for the government to respond — they have 45 days to answer the order paper question — we might be able to get some answers by looking at how much they spent in the past.

In an article for The Canadian Press, Bruce Cheadle noted that the Treasury Board had already approved $16 million in "economic action plan" advertising for fiscal year 2012/13.

President Donald Trump on Sunday took out his frustrations over the intensifying Russia investigation by lashing out at special counsel Robert Mueller, signalling a possible shift away from a strategy of co-operating with a probe he believes is biased against him. In a series of weekend tweets naming Mueller for the first time, Trump criticized the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and raised fresh concerns about the objectivity and political leanings of the members of Mueller's team. Trump also challenged the honesty of Andrew McCabe, the newly fired FBI deputy director, and James Comey, the bureau's former director whom Trump fired last year over the Russia probe.

The Crown and the lawyer for Gerald Stanley, the Saskatchewan farmer recently acquitted in the shooting death of Colten Boushie, indicated Monday they need more time to address a series of gun charges against him. Neither Stanley nor his lawyer Scott Spencer were present at Saskatchewan Provincial Court in New Battleford on Monday to address allegations that Stanley, 56, had improperly stored seven guns on his Biggar, Sask.-area property. Spencer`s participation in the brief court appearance was by phone.

With ballots from 80 per cent of Russia's precincts counted by early Monday, Putin had amassed 76 per cent of the vote. Observers and individual voters reported widespread violations including ballot-box stuffing and forced voting, but the claims are unlikely to dilute the power of Russia's longest-serving leader since Josef Stalin.

Lt.-Gov. Elizabeth Dowdeswell hinted that Premier Kathleen Wynne's government intends to invest in new programs and expand on a number of initiatives already in place. Notably, she said that funding to reduce hospital wait times and increase access to home care for seniors and mental health care is coming, as well as an expansion of the OHIP+ program beyond children and youth. Dowdeswell did not specify who may be covered under an expanded OHIP+, which provides select medications free to Ontarians under 25, but did say "other parts of the population" will now be included.

A place typically dripping with Newfoundland and Labrador heritage has even more culture on offer this week. High school students living in St. John's have set up displays from their home countries as part of the Sharing our Cultures event being held at The Rooms. "It's a really good chance for us to [get to] know each other and learn our cultures," said Andrea Han, an international student from China who's been going to school in St. John's for two years.

A provincial government subsidy that's maintaining Cape Breton's defunct rail line will run out at the end of this month. The Nova Scotia government is paying up to $60,000 a month to Genesee and Wyoming to maintain the line, even though it's not being used. The government wants to preserve the infrastructure in case a container terminal is built in Sydney.

It started as an invitation to throat sing in The Hague. The Canadian government had gifted the Netherlands a three-and-a-half metre inukshuk carving for the International Criminal Court, and wanted to send a pair of throat singers for the unveiling ceremony. "We agreed to do the performance," said Kathleen Merritt, who got back to Canada with her throat singing partner, Charlotte Qamaniq, on March 14.

UPEI's director of recruitment says a local international student nearly lost $5,000 to a scam call that claimed to be from RCMP and threatened him with deportation. "Fortunately I got a call from the student who was really afraid, and had already taken the money out of his account," said Jerry Wang. "He was pretending to be an RCMP officer in Charlottetown but didn't know their address.

A $50,000 commitment from a local furniture magnate has boosted to $75,000 the amount offered for information that leads to a missing Montreal boy. Ariel's father, ​Kouadio Frédéric Kouakou, specified that the money is to find the boy safe and sound. Rodi is not the first person to commit money to help find Ariel.

A union representing tens of thousands of public servants says the federal government now owes more than $10 million in union dues due to ongoing problems with the Phoenix payroll system. The letter — dated Oct. 4, 2017, and addressed to the Treasury Board Secretariat — states the government owes the union approximately $7.5 million. PSAC officials now confirm the amount is more than $10 million and say no money has been remitted to the union, even though the letter requested "an immediate remittance" to offset the substantial debt.

The supplement was the brainchild of John Barrett, a Charlottetown Royal Rotary member and marketing director for Veseys Seeds, who got the idea from a fundraising project he did with the Toronto Symphony Orchestra. The supplement taps into a prime characteristic of Island life, Barrett said. "It takes about 12 months from start to finish because it's really a volunteer project," said Barrett, who has been the designer since the supplement started.

A Calgary city councillor's request to look at bringing in mandatory structural inspections of the city's older and taller buildings is being met with fierce resistance. "Leave the industry alone," says Gerry Baxter, the executive director of the Calgary Residential Rental Association. The city's building maintenance bylaw, which calls for mandatory exterior visual assessments of buildings every five years, came into law Jan. 1, 2017.

By Cate Cadell and Aradhana Aravindan BEIJING/SINGAPORE (Reuters) - Alibaba Group Holding Ltd said it will invest an extra $2 billion in Southeast Asian e-commerce firm Lazada Group and tapped a top executive to run the business, as it takes on rivals such as tech titan Amazon in an aggressive expansion in the region. One of the 18 founders of Alibaba, veteran executive Lucy Peng will take over as Lazada's chief executive, replacing founder Max Bittner who will become a senior adviser to Alibaba. Alibaba's stake will increase to an undisclosed size following the latest investment, a spokeswoman told Reuters.

The scraping of skate blades on ice cuts through the stillness on a winter afternoon in Little Bay Islands, an island town 553 kilometres northwest of St. John's. It's because Mike Parsons and his wife, Georgina, have cleared a skating loop on the harbour. While the 51-year-old Parsons grew up in this picturesque outport, he moved to Ontario to work in the software industry. "Myself and Georgina, we wanted to become a part of the community while it still existed as a community," said Parsons.

Aubrey de Grey is chief science officer at the SENS Research Foundation which is trying to develop therapies that will repair the damage that the body does to itself throughout life. He believes that ageing can be treated as a disease itself which can be cured. BBC Click finds out more.

How Fox Saved the People. The idea for the game came in 2013, when Luke West and Sherry Hucklebridge were studying language revitalization at the University of Toronto. The game is based on the book How Fox Saved the People — a Tlicho folk story.

With NB Power's $100 million smart meter plan still waiting for a decision from the Energy and Utilities Board, the curtain is set to rise on what could be an equally controversial part two of the company's annual appearance in front of its regulator in Saint John this morning. In addition to a two per cent average rate increase, the utility is seeking permission to levy surcharges on customers following major storm damage and other expensive unexpected events. "NB Power proposes that the board approve a process by which NB Power can apply to the board to recover costs associated with uncontrollable and distinct incidents or circumstances," the utility states in evidence submitted in support of its application.

A Windsor developer is hoping his second, scaled-down, proposal for a medical centre on Dougall Avenue will get approval from the city's planning committee Monday. Eddie Kadri had to go back to the drawing board after his project was rejected by committee last June. The building would replace five houses and vacant residential lots across from the Walmart plaza at the corner of Norfolk Street.

A Saint John hockey program is helping at-risk youth by teaching them how to make goals — both in and outside the arena. Top Corner Hockey Saint John is a local program that teaches youth, who otherwise wouldn't get the chance, to play one of Canada's most beloved sports. "Every kid in our program has zero to very minimum home support," said Chris Green, one of the organizers at Top Corner Hockey.

Vladimir Putin will lead Russia for another six years, after securing an expected victory in Sunday's presidential election. With almost all the ballots counted, he had received more than 76% of the vote, the central election commission said. Here's how the election result unfolded.

(Reuters) - Apple Inc is developing its own MicroLED device displays and has made small numbers of the screens for testing, Bloomberg reported, in a move that could hurt Asian display suppliers to the U.S. tech giant over the long-term. MicroLED is a new display technology that has grabbed the attention of several tech firms. Screens using MicroLED are thinner, brighter, use less power and are more durable than the OLED displays that are increasingly being adopted for a variety of smart devices.

By Emma Thomasson BERLIN (Reuters) - German online retailer Home24, which aims to challenge IKEA's dominance of the European furniture market, accelerated sales and trimmed losses in the fourth quarter after sources said it is considering a stock market listing. Home24, in which ecommerce investor Rocket Internet holds a 43 percent stake, said quarterly sales rose 21 percent to 80 million euros ($98 million), picking up from a 10 percent rise in the first nine months of the year. Home24 is expected to publish an intention to float in May or June, with the offer volume seen at 100 million-200 million euros, sources told Reuters last week, potentially valuing the company at 500 million to 600 million euros.

The Roman Catholic Church in Scotland says Cardinal Keith O'Brien, who became the first cardinal in history to recuse himself from a papal election over a personal scandal, has died. O'Brien had resigned as archbishop in 2013 after allegations about sexual conduct relating to relationships in the 1980s. Experts called the decision not to attend the 2013 papal conclave that elected Pope Francis unprecedented.

By Gabriela Baczynska BRUSSELS (Reuters) - EU Brexit negotiators summoned national envoys and journalists at short notice on Monday as speculation mounted among diplomats of an interim deal to grant Britain a transition -- though some urged caution. Another, however, played down talk that good progress in negotiations with Britain over the weekend had covered enough ground to assure London of a transition deal after Brexit. A major sticking point is Britain's reluctance to agree to terms on the Irish border set out in a separate part of the draft withdrawal treaty currently under discussion.